Aldabra giant tortoise

Description
This giant tortoise is able to reach over a metre in length. It has a thick, domed shell, dark grey to black in colour. It has robust extremities covered with osseous scales. Its neck is very long, which allows it to reach branches one metre high. Its head is small and pointed.

Ethology
These animals are generally active in the morning when temperatures are cooler. The animals may be solitary or in groups seeking food. They use holes under the ground to rest and keep cool during the heat of the day. At around 25 years old they reach sexual maturity. Females lay between 9 and 25 eggs in a clutch not deep in the ground. The hatchlings emerge 3.5 to 7 months later. They live for over 150 years.

Interesting facts
They are catalogued by the IUCN as Vulnerable. Adults do not have predators, but eggs and hatchlings may be attacked by crabs, birds and wild cats. Habitat destruction and the introduction of mammal predators such as rats and cats, and other competitors such as goats, even further decimated the previously isolated populations.